Illegal Alien Sentenced to a Year in Federal Prison for Reentering the United States

A Honduran citizen who illegally reentered the United States and cut off an ankle monitor and fled after getting caught was sentenced today to a year in federal prison.

Oscar Lopez-Martinez, age 46, from Honduras, received the prison term after a November 5, 2025, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry.

Information at sentencing showed that Lopez-Martinez was arrested for OWI in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in December 2022.  After he was in the Linn County jail, ICE officers arrested Lopez-Martinez for having reentered the country illegally.  Lopez-Martinez had been removed from the country six times.  He was also convicted of illegal entry in 2016 in federal court in Arizona.

Lopez-Martinez was released pending his trial for illegal reentry.  An ankle monitor was placed on him so that the probation office could monitor his location.  Days after being released, Lopez-Martinez cut off the ankle monitor and fled.  His whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested by the United States Marshals Service in September 2025.

Lopez-Martinez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Lopez-Martinez was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison.  He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Lopez-Martinez is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations and the United States Marshals Service.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 22-cr-101.

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